BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, January 20, 2010 (Labour Secretariat) - After all the chatter and promises from Grant about reducing crime and its influences on our young people, the People’s Action Movement’s (PAM’s) decision to feature Adi Dja Palmer, more popularly known as Vybz Kartel or Addi di Teacha, at the recent PAM political concert smacks of poor judgment and imprudence.
The PAM and their so-called anti-crime campaign is being made a mockery by bringing in a notorious Dancehall artist like Vybz Kartel, who is internationally and regionally known for his lewd and violent lyrics and lifestyle. Kartel has been banned in several Caribbean countries, including Grenada and Guyana, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Europe and PAM took advantage of Labour’s ongoing supportive approach to the freedom of movement of Caribbean artistes.
Kartel’s “Ramping Shop”, a sexually explicit duet with female singer Spice, was banned from the Jamaica airwaves; his song “Virginity” details his sexual encounter with a 17 year old, going as far as to outline the fact that 3 spots of blood splattered on the ground after the teen lost her “virginity”; his song ‘“eenage Pregnancy” promotes teenage pregnancy; and many other songs by Kartel promote gun violence and vulgarity.
Some similar Jamaican artistes, like Movado, have made a shift in their violent and lewd lyrics and have now been accepted around the world, but Kartel has shown no such shift. It is ironic that PAM and their sympathizers were highly critical of the inclusion of Movado in the St Kitts Music Festival 2009 line up. This is another blatant example of the hypocrisy of Lindsay Grant and PAM.
By choosing Vybz Kartel for a peace concert, the PAM has again shown the poor judgment and lack of foresight that their leader Lindsay Grant has now become famous for.
